"We received orders to fix bayonets and, under the cover of our barrage, went over the top. It was very hard work advancing through the cornfields, with enormous shell holes... bullets and shrapnel whizzing about. The fire was so intense that practically all the bayonets were broken. When hit by bullets, they snapped like glass and the fragments were responsible for 7 head and neck wounds. 2 of which were serious
We found our platoon was now alone. The enemy were about 100 yards from us. We were under heavy shrapnel fire for about four-and-a-half hours.
Our officer (a youth of 20 and first time in action) told a few men to crawl out to see where our men were. Only two came back and said we were partially surrounded.
Those left were told to crawl out two at a time. I and another soldier had to run the gauntlet, a wide road under machine gun fire. The other chap threw up his arms and dropped, shot in the head. The number of us who escaped was 15 or 16, including officers." Pte Harry Dene, 5th Gloucestershire Regiment, describing an assault into no man's land somewhere in France, 1917 #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww1 #reality #war @stayzeroactual